Ward 1

Ward 1 News: Christine Meikle School

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Article Date:
8/4/2017

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This year the Calgary Board of Education opened the Christine Meikle School at 3525 - 50 Street NW in Varsity. It is a school for students in Grades 7 – 12 who have moderate to severe developmental disabilities, delays with complex learning, or medical, sensory or emotional needs. The school currently serves approximately 80 students and has room to accommodate 125.

Prior to the opening, and for almost the last 60 years, the program was run out of a building in Bridgeland. As the student population grew, and the program took on children with more complex needs, it was decided the school needed a new home.

The new building has wider halls to accommodate wheelchairs and medical equipment, and specialized spaces that combine educational and health-care facilities for the kids. It is brighter and more open, with lighter, higher ceilings and walls that the children feel are more inviting.

There is a high-tech multi-sensory room where children with behavioural and emotional control issues can calm down. The school also has a warm, wheelchair accessible salt-water therapy pool, which offers personalized therapy by a pool therapist who develops programs in conjunction with their physiotherapist and their occupational therapist for each class and each student. The school playground is an integral part of the children’s learning, as it features accessible equipment, a wheelchair track and specialized workout machines.

Christine Meikle's wheelchair accessible salt-water therapy pool.

This content represents the personal views and opinions of the Councillor and should not be taken as a statement of policy of The City of Calgary. The inclusion of any external content does not imply endorsement by The City of Calgary.